Resource Policy and Planning Board

The Resource Policy and Planning Board (RPPB) is the senior advisory body to the North Atlantic Council on the management of all NATO resources. It has responsibility for the overall management of NATO’s civil and military budgets, as well as the NATO Security Investment Programme (NSIP) and manpower.

The Budget Committee and the Investment Committee report to the RPPB. The Budget Committee reviews and recommends civil and military budgets, while the Investment Committee is responsible for the implementation of the NSIP, which finances the provision of the installations and facilities needed to support the roles of the two strategic commands that exceed national defence requirements of individual member countries. .

Main roles and functions

The RPPB is responsible for resource policy, including eligibility and affordability, and is tasked with planning and performance assessment. The RPPB receives strategic guidance from the NAC and provides coherence and guidance to the work of resource committees. It advises Council on the resource implications of new initiatives, operations and missions, as it does the Military Committee on the cost and investment implications of any of the committee’s decisions.

The RPPB was set up in July 2010 as the only financial committee reporting directly to the North Atlantic Council. It succeeded the Senior Resource Board, which was one of four financial committees (Senior Resource Board, Civil Budget Committee, Military Budget Committee and the Infrastructure Committee) reporting to the NAC. The Senior Resource Board itself was created in the 1990s in an effort to optimize the allocation of military common-funded resources and reinforce management structures. At the same time, capability packages were established to identify the assets available to and required by NATO military commanders.

These capability packages are a means to assess identified Alliance capabilities in terms of both capital investment and recurrent operating and maintenance costs as well as the civilian and military manpower required to accomplish the task.

The Board reviews these capability packages and endorses them from the point of view of their resource implications and eligibility for common funding prior to their approval by the North Atlantic Council.

Each year, the RPPB also recommends for approval by the Council a comprehensive Medium Term Resource Plan, which sets financial ceilings for the following year and planning figures for the four subsequent years. This five-year Medium Term Resource Plan sets the parameters within which the Budget and the Investment Committees oversee the preparation and execution of their respective budgets and plans.

The Board also produces an Annual Report, which allows the Council to monitor the adequacy of resource allocations in relation to requirements.

Working mechanisms

All NATO member countries are represented on this board, which is chaired by a national chairman selected on a rotational basis.

Besides national representatives, representatives of the International Military Staff, NATO Strategic Commanders, and Chairmen of the Budget Committee and Investment Committee also attend the Board's meetings.